Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 1:31
And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
31. And I knew him not ] Or, I also knew Him not; I, like you, did not at first know Him to be the Messiah. There is no contradiction between this and Mat 3:14. (1) ‘I knew Him not’ need not mean ‘I had no knowledge of Him whatever.’ (2) John’s professing that he needed to be baptized by Jesus does not prove that he had already recognised Jesus as the Messiah, but only as superior to himself.
that he should be made manifest ] This was the Baptist’s second duty. He had (1) to prepare for the Messiah by preaching repentance; (2) to point out the Messiah. The word for ‘manifest’ is one of S. John’s favourite words ( phaneroun); Joh 2:11, Joh 3:21, Joh 7:4, Joh 9:3, Joh 17:6, Joh 21:1; Joh 21:14 ; 1Jn 1:2; 1Jn 2:19 ; 1Jn 2:28; 1Jn 3:2 ; 1Jn 3:5; 1Jn 3:8-9; Rev 3:18; Rev 15:4.
therefore am I come ] Better, for this cause (Joh 12:18; Joh 12:27) came I (comp. Joh 5:16; Joh 5:18, Joh 7:22, Joh 8:47).
baptizing with water ] In humble contrast to Him Who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost’ ( Joh 1:33). ‘ With water’ is literally ‘ in water ’ here and Joh 1:26.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I knew him not – John was not personally acquainted with Jesus. Though they were remotely related to each other, yet it seems that they had had heretofore no personal acquaintance. John had lived chiefly in the hill country of Judea. Jesus had been employed with Joseph at Nazareth. Until Jesus came to be baptized Mat 3:13-14, it seems that John had no acquaintance with him. He understood that he was to announce that the Messiah was about to appear. He was sent to proclaim his coming, but he did not personally know Jesus, or that he was to be the Messiah. This proves that there could have been no collusion or agreement between them to impose on the people.
Should be made manifest – That the Messiah should be exhibited, or made known. He came to prepare the way for the Messiah, and it now appeared that the Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth.
To Israel – To the Jews.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 31. And I knew him not, &c.] John did not know our Lord personally, and perhaps had never seen him, at the time he spoke the words in Joh 1:15. Nor is it any wonder that the Baptist should have been unacquainted with Christ, as he had spent thirty years in the hill country of Hebron, and our Lord remained in a state of great privacy in the obscure city of Nazareth, in the extreme borders of Galilee.
But that he should be made manifest to Israel] One design of my publicly baptizing was, that he, coming to my baptism, should be shown to be what he is, by some extraordinary sign from heaven.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This verse is best expounded by Joh 1:33, where the same words are repeated, I knew him not; and it is added, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, &c. Lest any should think that Christ and John had compacted together to give one another credit, or that there was some near relation between John and Christ, John saith, I knew him not; for Christ had spent his time at home, Luk 2:51, John had lived in desert places; the providence of God so ordering it, that John should not know Christ so much as by face, until that time came when Christ was to be made manifest to Israel. But that God might make his Son manifest unto Israel, when God by an extraordinary mission sent John to baptize with water, he gave him this token, That he upon whom he should see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, as Joh 1:33, that was the Messiah, the Lamb of God, that should take away the sin of the world; he who should baptize with the Holy Ghost.
And therefore (saith John) am I come baptizing with water. I did not run without sending, nor introduce a new rite or sacrament without commission; but being thus sent of God, and that I might give Christ an opportunity of coming to me, that I might see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him. From whence we learn, that none but Christ can institute a sacrament. John baptized not, till he was sent to baptize with water.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31-34. knew him notLivingmostly apart, the one at Nazareth, the other in the Judean deserttoprevent all appearance of collusion, John only knew that at adefinite time after his own call, his Master would show Himself. AsHe drew near for baptism one day, the last of all the crowd, thespirit of the Baptist heaving under a divine presentiment that themoment had at length arrived, and an air of unwonted serenity anddignity, not without traits, probably, of the family features,appearing in this Stranger, the Spirit said to him as to Samuel ofhis youthful type, “Arise, anoint Him, for this is He!”(1Sa 16:12). But thesign which he was told to expect was the visible descent of theSpirit upon Him as He emerged out of the baptismal water. Then,catching up the voice from heaven, “he saw and bare record thatthis is the Son of God.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I knew him not,…. , “by sight”, as Nonnus paraphrases it; personally he had never seen him, nor had had any conversation and familiarity with him; for though they were related to each other, yet lived at such a distance, as not to know one another, or have a correspondence with each other: John was in the deserts, until the day of his showing unto Israel; and Christ dwelt with his parents at Nazareth, in a very mean and obscure manner, till he came from thence to Jordan to John, to be baptized by him; and which was the first interview they had: and this was so ordered by providence, as also this is said by John, lest it should be thought, that the testimony he bore to Jesus, and the high commendation he gave of him, arose from the relation between them; or from a confederacy and compact they had entered into:
but that he should be made manifest to Israel; who had been for many years hid in Galilee, an obscure part of the world: and though he had been known to Joseph and Mary, and to Zacharias and Elisabeth, and to Simeon and Anna; yet he was not made manifest to the people of Israel in common; nor did they know that the Messiah was come: but that he might be known:
therefore am I come baptizing with water; or in water, as before: for by administering this new ordinance, the people were naturally put upon inquiry after the Messiah, whether come, and where he was, since such a new rite was introduced; and besides, John, when he baptized any, he exhorted them to believe on him, which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus; and moreover, by Christ’s coming to his baptism, he came to have a personal knowledge of him himself, and so was capable of pointing him out, and making him manifest to others, as he did.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And I knew him not ( ). Repeated in verse 33. Second past perfect of as imperfect. He had predicted the Messiah and described him before he met him and baptized him. See the Synoptics for that story. Whether John knew Jesus personally before the baptism we do not know.
But that he should be made manifest to Israel (‘ ). Final clause with and first aorist passive subjunctive of . The purpose of John’s ministry was to manifest to Israel with their spiritual privileges (1:49) the presence of the Messiah. Hence he was baptizing in water those who confessed their sins, he means, as in Mr 1:5. The Synoptic account is presupposed all along here.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And I knew him not:- (kago ouk edein auton) “And I perceived or recognized him not,” did not really know who He was, as the Son of God, up to this point of time.
2) “But that he should be made manifest to Israel,” (all’ hina phanerothe to Israel) “But in order that he might be manifest (made known) to Israel,” that much I knew, John asserted, through a pre-given sign, that is recounted, Joh 1:33.
3) “Therefore am I come baptizing with water.” (dia touto elthon ego en hudai baptizon) “Therefore I came, repeatedly immersing, or baptizing (people) in water,” John the Baptist, who had been sent from God to baptize, (Joh 1:32-33) did not know that Jesus Christ was that Savior, Messiah, or Redeemer, until he baptized Him. At that time he did recognize who Jesus was, by two signs: 1) First, the Holy Ghost descended upon Him, 2) Second, God spoke audibly from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son,” Mat 3:15-17; Luk 3:21-22.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
31. And I knew him not. That his testimony may not be suspected of having been given either from friendship or favor, he anticipates such a doubt, by affirming that he had no other knowledge of Christ than what he had obtained by divine inspiration. The meaning, therefore, amounts to this, that John does not speak at his own suggestion, nor for the favor of man, but by the inspiration of the Spirit and the command of God.
I came baptizing with water; that is, I was called and appointed to this office, that I might manifest him to Israel; which the Evangelist afterwards explains more fully, and confirms, when he introduces John the Baptist, testifying that he had no knowledge of Christ but what he had obtained by oracle; that is, by information or revelation from God. (38) Instead of what we find here, I came to baptize, he there states expressly (verse 33) that he was sent; for it is only the calling of God that makes lawful ministers, because every person who of his own accord, thrusts himself forward, whatever learning or eloquence he may possess, is not entitled to any authority, and the reason is, that he is not authorized by God. Now since it was necessary that John, in order that he might lawfully baptize, should be sent by God, let it be inferred from this, that it is not in the power of any man whatever to institute sacraments, but that this right belongs to God alone, as Christ, on another occasion, in order to prove the baptism of John, asks if it was from heaven, or from men, (Mat 21:25.)
(38) “ Par oracle; c’est a dire, advertissement ou revelation de Dieu.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(31) And I knew him not.Better, and I also knew Him not; so again in Joh. 1:33. The reference is to whom ye know not of Joh. 1:26, and the assertion is not, therefore, inconsistent with the fact that John did know Him on His approach to baptism (Mat. 3:13, see Note). In the sense that they did not know Him standing among them, he did not know Him, though with the incidents of His birth and earlier years and even features he must have been familiar. It cannot be that the Son of Mary was unknown to the son of Elizabeth, though One had dwelt in Nazareth and the other was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel (Luk. 1:80; Luk. 2:51). He knew not all, but there must have been many wondering thoughts of that wondrous life. Could it be the life that all looked for? but no; there was little of the Jewish idea of the Messiah in the carpenter of a country village (comp. Mar. 6:3). What he did know was, that his own work as herald declared that He should be made manifest to Israel, and in that conviction he proclaimed the coming King, and began the Messianic baptism. The Person would be His own witness. Heaven would give its own sign to those who could spiritually read it. The Baptiser with the Spirit would Himself be so fully baptised with the Spirit coming upon and dwelling in Him, that to the spiritual eye it would take visual form and be seen as a dove descending from heaven.
Am I come.Better, came.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And I did not know Him, but that he would be revealed to Israel. This was why I came baptising with water.’
‘But that He would be revealed to Israel’. John had begun to preach knowing that ‘the coming One’ was to follow him, and would be made known to Israel, and that he himself was preparing the way. What he had not known was who He was nor how He would be revealed.
He admits that he had not realised at first who Jesus was, even though Jesus was his cousin, but he had come to recognises Jesus’ superiority to himself (Mat 3:14), and he now stresses that he had come to realise at Jesus’ baptism that He was the One for Whom he was preparing, for he had seen the Holy Spirit descending and remaining on Him, and had realised from this that He was the One Who would drench (baptizo = drench, inundate) in the Holy Spirit as promised by the prophets.
This stresses the significance of John’s baptism. It was a message in picture form illustrating the future work of Jesus. In the Old Testament the coming of the Spirit in the new age is regularly depicted in terms of rain pouring from the heavens, of floods of water, and of new fruitfulness (e.g. Isa 32:15-18; Isa 44:4-5). Thus John’s baptism declares the near approach of this coming age of the Spirit, which could be seen as present in the coming of Jesus. It is an acted out parable in line with those of previous prophets.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 1:31. And I knew him not: “St. Matthew relates, Mat 3:14.” says Dr. Clarke, “that when Christ came to be baptized, John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? By the history, as given by St. Matthew, John seems to have known Christ before hehad baptized him: whereas in this gospel,
Christ seems to have been first made known to him by the descent of the Holy Ghost after his baptism. See Joh 1:33. It is most probable that God the Father, having before given John that token to know Christ, did, upon Christ’s coming to be baptized, reveal to John that this was the person upon whom he should presently see the signal.” Though this supposition be approved by several commentators, there does not appear any necessity for having recourse to it. When the Baptist says, he knew not Jesus, he may be understood to mean that he knew him not with certainty to be the Messiah, and consequently was not yet authorized to declare him such. As he was related to Christ, it is possible that he might personally have known him, and observed him from his infancy; and though we should suppose him not to have been informed by his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth, of the miraculous circumstances which attended Christ’s birth, yet a character of such unparalleled sanctity might reasonably draw from so modest and humble a person as St. John, an acknowledgment of his own inferiority, and prompt him to say, “I have need to be baptized of thee, rather than perform this office to a person so far my superior in purity and holiness.” A circumstance mentioned by St. Matthew himself in the same chapter, Joh 1:6 and by St. Mar 1:5 makes it still less surprising that the Baptist should thus express himself. Those evangelists inform us, that the people were baptized in Jordan, confessing their sins. If these words imply, as well they may, that every person who came to be baptized, confessed his sins; this circumstance alone might sufficiently distinguish the blessed Jesus from all others, as he alone had no sins to confess, and might lead the Baptist to conclude, that he was the Person appointed to take away the sins of the world. Conscious then as he was of his own imperfections, how naturally might he say to this sinless person, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? But however strongly he might thence presume him to be the Messiah, yet he could not be said to know him to be so, nor therefore, as yet, bear testimony to him under that character. In this sense then he might properly say, And I knew him not: that is, I knew him not to be the Messiah; for so the words whom ye know not, Joh 1:26 are probably to be understood; and the same expression is used in a like restrained sense by Christ himself, ch. Joh 14:9. Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? where the words, Hast thou not known me, certainly did not imply that Philip had no personal knowledge of Christ: nor could Socrates (if Imay compare infinitely small things with great,) mean that his friend Apollodorus had no personal knowledge of him, when, as AElian relates, he said, “If Apollodorus imagines that the corpse, which you will soon see lying at your feet, is Socrates, it is plain that he does not know me.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 1:31 . ] not I also , like all others, but and I , resuming and carrying forward the of Joh 1:30 . Though the Baptist had borne witness in a general way concerning the Messiah, as Joh 1:30 affirms, Jesus was, at the time when he bare that witness, still unknown to him as in His own person the historic Messiah. Joh 1:34 shows that in is the simple and; for the thrice repeated , Joh 1:31-34 , can only be arbitrarily interpreted in different senses. The emphasis of the , however ( I on my part ), consists in his ignorance of the special individuality, in the face of the divine revelation which he had received.
] that is, as the Messiah , see Joh 1:33 ; not “as the manifestation of a pre-existent personality” (Hilgenfeld); still not denying, in general, every kind of previous acquaintance with Jesus (Lcke, Godet), which the following and in Joh 1:26 forbid. This leaves it quite uncertain whether the Baptist had any personal acquaintance generally with Jesus (and this is by no means placed beyond doubt by the legendary prefatory history in Luk 1:36 ff., which is quite irreconcilable with the text before us). That Jesus was the Messiah became known to the Baptist only at the baptism itself, by the sign of the descending dove; and this sign was immediately preceded only by the prophetic presentiment of which Mat 3:14 is the impress (see on that passage). Accordingly, we are not to assume any contradiction between our text and Matt. l.c . (Strauss, Baur, and most others), nor leave the with its meaning unexplained (Brckner); nor, again, are we to interpret it only comparatively as a denial of clear and certain knowledge (Neander, Maier, Riggenbach, Hengstenberg, Ewald).
, . . .] occupying an emphatic position at the beginning of the clause, and stating the purpose of the Baptist’s manifestation as referring to Messiah, and as still applying notwithstanding the , and being thus quite independent of his own intention and choice, and purely a matter of divine ordination.
] This special purpose, in the expression of which, moreover, no reference can be traced to Isa 40:5 (against Hengstenberg), does not exclude the more generally and equally divine ordinance in Joh 1:23 , but is included in it. Comp. the tradition in Justin, c. Tryph . 8, according to which the Messiah remained unknown to Himself and others, until Elias anointed Him and made Him manifest to all ( ).
] a humble description of his own baptism as compared with that of Him who baptizes with the Spirit, Joh 1:33 ; comp. Joh 1:26 . Hence also the , on my part. For the rest, we must understand . . . of John’s call to baptize in general , in which was also included the conception of the baptizing of Jesus , to which Joh 1:32 refers. [119]
[119] For , Lachmann (now also Tischendorf), following B. C. G. L. P. . ., cursives, and some of the Fathers, reads ; but the article after ver. 26, comp. ver. 33, would be more easily omitted than inserted. It is demonstrative, for John as he speaks is standing by the Jordan.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
Ver. 31. And I knew him not ] By face not at all; lest the people should think that this was done and said by consent or compact beforehand between them. Nor did John ever know Christ so fully till now: his former knowledge was but ignorance, in comparison; none are too good to learn. The very angels know not so much of Christ, but they would know more, Eph 3:10 , and therefore look intently into the mystery of Christ, as the cherubims did into the ark, 1Pe 1:12 .
But that he should be manifested ] Ministers must hold up the tapestry, as it were, and show men Christ. They are the mouth of the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to take Christ’s excellencies, and hold them out to the world, Joh 16:14 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
31. ] On the apparent discrepancy between this statement, , and St. Matthew’s narrative, I have stated my view on Mat 3:14 . Both accounts are entirely consistent with the supposition that John had been from youth upwards acquainted with our Lord, and indeed may have in his own mind believed Him to be the Christ: but having ( Joh 1:33 ) a special sign appointed him , by which to recognize Him as such, until that sign was given, he, like the rest of the people ( , I also, see Joh 1:26 ), had no certain knowledge of Him. Lcke’s whole note proceeds upon the unworthy view of the historical character of the Gospels which his school has adopted. The same may be said of Neander, Leben Jesu, pp. 86 ff.
De Wette gives the sense well: “This testimony ( Joh 1:30 ) does not rest upon my long personal acquaintance with Him, but on that which happened during my work of baptizing.”
. ] Justin Martyr represents Trypho the Jew saying, , , , , , , 8, p. 110. But our narrative is not built upon any such Jewish belief, for it is evidently only as a spiritual preparation , through repentance, for the knowledge of Him, that John regarded his baptism, not as any thing .
[ ] ., hardly distinguishable in English from ., but importing, ‘in the water which it is my custom to use,’ ‘in the water in which you see I do baptize.’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 1:31 . , i.e. , I did not know Him to be the Messiah. Mat 3:14 shows that John knew Jesus as a man. This meaning is also determined by the clause added: . The object of the Baptist’s mission was the manifestation of the Christ. It was the Baptist’s preaching and the religious movement it initiated which summoned Jesus into public life. He alone could satisfy the cravings quickened by the Baptist. And it was at the baptism of Jesus, undergone in sympathy with the sinful people and as one with them, that the Spirit of the Messiah was fully imparted to Him and He was recognised as the Messiah. How John himself became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah he explains to the people, Joh 1:32-34 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
made manifest. Greek. phaneroo. App-106.
therefore = on account of this Greek. dia (App-104. Joh 1:1). The purpose should be well noted. Compare Rom 15:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
31.] On the apparent discrepancy between this statement, , and St. Matthews narrative, I have stated my view on Mat 3:14. Both accounts are entirely consistent with the supposition that John had been from youth upwards acquainted with our Lord, and indeed may have in his own mind believed Him to be the Christ:-but having (Joh 1:33) a special sign appointed him, by which to recognize Him as such,-until that sign was given, he, like the rest of the people (, I also, see Joh 1:26), had no certain knowledge of Him. Lckes whole note proceeds upon the unworthy view of the historical character of the Gospels which his school has adopted. The same may be said of Neander, Leben Jesu, pp. 86 ff.
De Wette gives the sense well: This testimony (Joh 1:30) does not rest upon my long personal acquaintance with Him, but on that which happened during my work of baptizing.
.] Justin Martyr represents Trypho the Jew saying, , , , , , , 8, p. 110. But our narrative is not built upon any such Jewish belief, for it is evidently only as a spiritual preparation, through repentance, for the knowledge of Him, that John regarded his baptism, not as any thing .
[] ., hardly distinguishable in English from ., but importing, in the water which it is my custom to use,-in the water in which you see I do baptize.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 1:31. ) I knew Him not by face, just as yourselves [knew Him not], Joh 1:26. There standeth one among you, whom ye know not; at the time that I said, There cometh after me: see Mat 3:14, notes. This manifestly tends to prove that John was divinely instructed to testify as to Christ Jesus.-, that) expresses not the sole end, but still the primary one, why he came baptizing with water; Act 19:4 : John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.-, baptizing) The connecting link of [i.e. of the previous words with] the words of John the Baptist, after the parenthesis of the Evangelist, presently to be observed.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 1:31
Joh 1:31
And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water.-Here one of the special objects of Johns baptism is said to be to make known Jesus to Israel.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I knew: Joh 1:33, Luk 1:80, Luk 2:39-42
but: Joh 1:7, Isa 40:3-5, Mal 3:1, Mal 4:2-5, Luk 1:17, Luk 1:76-79
therefore: Mat 3:6, Mar 1:3-5, Luk 3:3, Luk 3:4, Act 19:4
Reciprocal: Mat 3:16 – and he Mar 1:10 – coming Act 1:5 – John 1Jo 3:5 – he 1Jo 5:6 – by water and
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
John knew some person was to come among the people of Israel, but did not know what particular man it was. He was given a cue (stated in verse 33) whereby he would have the promised one pointed out, and it was to take place while performing an act of baptism. Therefore signifies that because of the part water baptism was to play, John engaged in that kind of baptism, as well as to be preparing a people for that special One.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 1:31. And I knew him not: but that be may be made manifest to Israel, therefore came I, baptizing in water. The explanation of the first clause of this verse will be best given when we come to Joh 1:33. The object which the Baptist here assigns for his work of baptizing may at first sight seem to be different from that mentioned in the earlier Gospels, where he is spoken of as sent to prepare the way of the Lord. Attention to the words used by John will remove all difficulty. Israel is not to be limited to the Jewish nation. It embraces the true theocracy of God,neither Jews nor Gentiles as such, but all who will believe (comp. on Joh 1:47; Joh 1:49) Made manifest, again, is not a mere outward manifestation, but a revelation of Jesus as He is. Thus the meaning of the words is not, I baptize in water in order that Jesus may come to my baptism, and may there receive a testimony from on high; but, I baptize that I may declare the necessity of that forsaking of sin without which no true manifestation of Jesus can be made to the heart. The words in their real meaning, therefore, are in perfect harmony with the accounts of the Synoptists. The advance of thought from the unrecognised Jesus of Joh 1:26 to the made manifest of Joh 1:31 is obvious. It corresponds with the standeth of Joh 1:26, and the coming unto him of Joh 1:29; with the fact, also, that the one is the first, the other the second, testimony of the Baptist.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. That though John the Baptist was a near kinsman of Christ, according to the flesh, yet the providence of God so ordered it, that for thirty years together they did not know one another, nor converse with each other, nor probably ever saw the faces of each other; to be sure, he did not know him to be the Messiah. This, no doubt, was overruled by the wisdom of God to prevent all suspicion, as if John and Christ had compacted together to give one another credit; that the world mnight suspect nothing of the truth of John’s testimony concerning Christ, or have the least jealousy that what he said of Christ was from any bias of mind to his person, therefore he repeats it a second time, I knew him not. Joh 1:31; Joh 1:33.
Hence we may learn, That a corporal sight of Christ, and an outward personal acquaintance with him is not simply needful, and absolutely necessary, for enabling a minister to set him forth, and represent him savingly to the world.
Observe, 2. The means declared by which John came to know Christ to be the true Messiah; it was by a sign from heaven, namely, The Holy Ghost descending like a dove upon our Saviour: He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining, the same is he.
Learn hence, 1. that Christ taking upon him our nature, did so cover his glory with the veil of our flesh and common infirmities, that he could not be known by bodily sight from another man. Till John had a divine revelation, and an evident sign from heaven, that Christ was the Son of God, he knew him not.
Learn, 2. That Christ in his solemn entry upon his office, as Mediator, was sealed unto the work by the descending of the Holy Ghost upon him; he was sealed by the Holy Ghost’s descending, and the Father’s testifying, that this was his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased. Now it was, that God gave not of the Spirit to Christ by measure, for the effectual administration of his mediatorial office; now it pleased the Father, that in Christ should all fulness dwell. He was filled extensively with all kinds of grace, and filled intensively with all degrees of grace, in the day of his inauguration, when the Holy Spirit descended upon him.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Ver. 31. And neither did I know him; but that he might be manifested to Israel, I am come baptizing with water.
The word , and neither I, placed at the beginning and repeated, as it is in Joh 1:33, has necessarily an especial emphasis. The meaning is obvious; he has just said to his hearers: He whom you know not. When, therefore, he adds: And neither did I know him, it is clear that he means: And neither did I, when he came to present himself to me to be baptized, know him any more than you now know him. Weiss and Keil object to this meaning, that it cannot be applied to the two of Joh 1:33-34. We shall see that this is not correct. According to these interpreters the and I signifies: I, for my part, that is, according to my mere human individuality, and independently of the divine revelation. But it is this meaning which is inapplicable to Joh 1:34; and besides, it is very far-fetched. John means: I did not know him absolutely when he came to present himself to me; I did not know, therefore, that He was the Messiah. But we must not neglect to draw from this only natural meaning the important consequence which is implied in it: that John also did not know Jesus as a man, as the Son of Mary; for, if he had known Him as such, it would have been impossible for him not to know Him also as the Messiah.
He could not be ignorant of the circumstances which had accompanied his own birth and that of Jesus. If, therefore, he did not know Jesus as Messiah, no more did he know Him personally. And this can be understood: having lived in the wilderness up to the time of his manifestation to Israel (Luk 1:80), he might indeed have heard the marvelous circumstances of his own birth and of the birth of the Son of Mary related by his parents, but without having ever seen Him. It must necessarily, even, have been so, in order to his not recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, when He presented Himself to Him for baptism. And it is only in this way that the testimony given by him to Jesus is raised above all suspicion of bias. This is the reason why John brings out this circumstance with so much stress by the three successive . Here is the guarantee of the truth of his testimony. But, in this case, how can we explain the word which John addresses to Jesus in the narrative of Matthew (Mat 3:14): I have need to be baptized of thee. To resolve this difficulty, it is not necessary to resort to the expedient, which was found already in the Gospel of the Hebrews and which Lucke has renewed,that of placing this conversation between John and Jesus after the baptism of the latter. We have already recalled the fact that, according to Mat 3:6 and Mar 1:5, the baptism of John was preceded, on the part of the neophyte, by an act of confession of sins. The confession which the forerunner heard proceeding from the mouth of Jesus might easily convince him that he had to do with a more holy being than himself, who had a deep sense of sin and condemned it, as he had never felt and condemned it himself, and could thus extort from him the exclamation which Matthew relates. Not knowing Jesus personally, John received Him as he did every other Israelite; after having heard Him speak of the sin of the world, he caught sight of the first gleam of the truth; finally, the scene which followed completed his conviction.
The logical connection between this clause and the following one is this: And that I might bring to an end that ignorance in which I still was, even as you are now, is the very reason why God has sent me to baptize. The Baptist’s ministry had undoubtedly a more general aim: to prepare the people for the Kingdom of God by repentance, or, as he has said himself in Joh 1:22 : to make straight the way of the Lord. But he makes prominent here only that which forms the culminating point of his ministry, the testimony borne to the person of the Messiah, without which all his labor would have been useless. The article before (the water) appears to me to have been wrongly rejected by the Alexandrian authorities; there is something dramatic in it: I am come to baptize with that water (pointing to the Jordan). Without the article, there would be a tacit contrast between the baptism of water and another (that of the Spirit), which is not in the thought of the context. John now explains how that ignorance ceased for him on the occasion of the baptism which he began to solemnize by the command of God.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Verse 31
I knew him not; that is, as the Messiah. It is evident, from Matthew 3:14,15, that Jesus was personally known to John when he came to be baptized; as, in fact, considering the relation subsisting between their mothers, arising out of the circumstances related by Luke, (Luke 1:1-2:52) must almost necessarily have been the case. He knew him, however, only as a devout and holy man, until after the baptismal ceremony was performed; when it was revealed to him that he was the Messiah, in the manner specified in the John 1:32,33.–But that, &c. The meaning is, that he knew only that the Messiah was about to appear.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1:31 And {q} I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
(q) I never knew him by face before.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
John had not known that Jesus was the Messiah before God revealed that to him, even though they were relatives (cf. Luk 1:36). John learned who Jesus really was when he baptized Jesus (Mat 3:13-17; Mar 1:9-11; Luk 3:21-22). The Apostle John did not record Jesus’ baptism, which happened before the events he recorded here. John the Baptist further explained that he carried on his baptizing ministry with Messiah’s public identification as a goal (cf. Mar 1:4). The symbolic descent of the Holy Spirit as a dove that remained on Jesus identified Jesus to John the Baptist as Messiah who was to baptize with the Holy Spirit (cf. Isa 11:2; Eze 36:25-26; Mar 1:10).
"Two times in John the Baptist’s account he made mention of the Spirit ’remaining’ on Jesus (Joh 1:32-33). This is extremely important as a description of the Spirit’s relationship to Jesus because permanence is implied." [Note: Harris, p. 197.]
In the Synoptics the writers mentioned only Jesus seeing the descent of the Spirit as a dove. John is the only evangelist who recorded that John the Baptist also saw it. The purpose of the baptism of Jesus in this Gospel then is to identify Jesus as Messiah to John the Baptist so he could bear witness to Jesus’ identity. Every other disciple was dependent on a human witness for divine illumination about Jesus’ true identity in John’s Gospel. Baptism with water was essentially negative symbolizing cleansing from something, but baptism with the Spirit was positive indicating the imparting of new life from God.